Morgan Hill isn’t too far from Monterey Bay and the city of Monterey, and we spent a day at the Monterey Aquarium. It’s a great place! Here are a few pictures that Jeff took while there:
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Big Sur – rocky cliffs along the ocean – it was a FABULOUS drive!
We took a day trip and drove down to the Big Sur region of the coast. While it was quite foggy all morning, it did clear up around lunchtime enough so we could see the coastline and get some great pictures. One place in particular was fascinating – at the Jula Pfieffer State Park there was a waterfall right on the beach! No beach access but there was a trail along the cliffs with a great view of the waterfall for pictures. Several of the pictures in the slide show below are of that waterfall, the rest are of various places where the cliffs along the beach were really breathtaking!
We took Laddy down to the beach in one area that he was allowed (no dogs allowed on State Park trails, but dogs ARE allowed on the trails in national park/forest areas) and we walked along the shore for a while with him. One wave came in quite high and got about ankle deep for Laddy and for me – COLD water!! After that he stayed away from the water, LOL
Enjoy the photos we took:
A place for everything, and everything in it’s place
We decided a long time ago that we wouldn’t have a lot of “stuff” once we move into the trailer. We had a few garage sales the last few years and really pared down our stuff. Just before we moved into the trailer full-time we had a moving sale and everything that wasn’t going to be in the trailer with us got sold.
Once we sorted through our belongings, clothes, dishes, books, etc., and stacked it all up in the corner while we had the moving sale I was worried that it wouldn’t all fit into the trailer. It was a pretty big stack! But, it all fit and we even have extra room! The difficulty we face at this point (still early days as a fulltime RV-er) is finding where we put certain items. Especially Jeff since I’m the one that packed the trailer.
We’re trying to live by the motto “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”, but we’re not quite there yet. Mostly we’re having to search cupboards and storage areas to find something we need that we’re sure we have somewhere, but we don’t know where it is.
The trailer came equipped with a TV mounted on the wall but we wanted to have our larger TV. Jeff very carefully measured the space and announced that our larger TV would fit…just barely! So, while we were in Three RIvers we bought a kit for mounting a TV to the wall and he dis-mounted the smaller TV and mounted our larger one. Not that large – a 32″ but bigger than the 24″ that came with the trailer!
So now we have a larger TV, but where’s the remote? I know I didn’t sell it, I would have put it with the other items to take with us into the trailer. We looked and looked and looked again! One day we spent two hours and went through every nook and cranny in the trailer (ha! It took only 2 hours!). Not anywhere! Since we need that remote to do a lot of the functions on this TV, we ordered a new one and figured we’d have to wait a few weeks for it to get shipped to Tx and then forwarded to us.
The very next day Jeff was going through the bag that contains the instructions manuals for all the devices in the trailer (stove, furnace, water heater, awning…there’s a lot of devices in here!) and lo-and-behold out fell the remote! Dang, I’ve been into that bag over a dozen times and never felt around in the bottom of it.
Well, all’s well that ends well. It’s a good lesson that in a small space where things must be stowed for travel, you need to REMEMBER where things should be stored and make sure they always get put back in that exact space. It also helps to store similar items in a similar place. Our electronics get stored in the same place, our extra batteries are all in the same drawer. Important papers are stored in one place, and papers we reference a lot (like those instructions for the devices of the trailer) get stored in an easy to reach place. It’s also important to store things you use a lot in handy places to get at, while things we don’t use very much (like our winter coats while it’s in the 80s and above) can be stored under the bed.
Living in a small space also means we have to be careful to not fill it up with new “stuff”. We have another rule we’re trying to live by “if one thing comes in, one thing has to go out”.
Laddy goes athletic!
Because Laddy doesn’t have the ability to run around in a yard as he did (for a short time) in the house on Glenroy, we’ve been trying to find dog parks whereever we are.
There was one in Visalia that we took him to a few times. He really enjoyed running with the other dogs, and there was one border collie that would “herd” Laddy. It was fun to watch; Laddy wouldn’t know which way to turn as Peaches would be right there herding him backwards.
Now we’re in Morgan Hill, so one of the first things we did was find a local dog park. Morgan Hill has a real nice one as part of the community center (http://morganhilldog.org/). It’s attached to a larger park; it has a pond with lots of ducks and gees, basketball courts and shade, picnic tables etc. The dog park itself has a big dog and small dog section, and it’a BIG with lots of shade, benches scattered around and lots of buckets for water.
Laddy sure enjoys running around and meeting the other dogs. He’s so friendly with everyone, dogs and people. He’s starting to figure out that the purpose of us throwing the ball is for him to go fetch it and bring it back. At first he would just run with the dogs chasing the ball, then he started to see the other dogs get the ball and run with it so he would do that too. Today, for the first time, he brought the ball back to Jeff and me. It took a couple of times of wrestling the ball from him mouth stating “Drop it” before he would do that but when he saw that we would throw it again he got better at it.
Here are a couple of pictures of Laddy enjoying himself at the dog park.
From Three Rivers to Morgan Hill
Today was a travel day, so right after breakfast we started the process of stowing and readying our trailer for travel. It was actually sprinkling as we were hooking up the trailer. But, after several weeks of 90+ temperatures in Julian without A/C, and 100+ temperaturs in Three Rivers (at least we had A/C!) it was a very nice feeling to get a little wet and be cool!
So, off we go today from Three Rivers to Morgan Hill, which is south of San Jose/about 30 minutes from the Monterey Bay. Here in Morgan Hill it’s about 73 degrees and our site is in full shade. We’ll have to get our sweaters out LOL!
Here’s our new RV Park, Oak Dell RV Park. Very pretty, quiet, shady, a lot of the people here appear to be “long time” residents in trailers and RVs. Many of them have flowerpots, enclosed decks etc. We’re just here for a week though.
Staying in RV parks that don’t have “full hookups” means limiting water use
Since we’ve left home on August 1st we’ve been at two RV parks. The first was William Heise in Julian where we had electricity but no water except what was in our holding tanks. We had to break camp and tow the trailer to the dumpsite a couple of times and we refilled our tanks at the same time.
Our second RV park, Sequoia RV Ranch in Three Rivers, CA, has water and electricity which is an improvement, but still no dumpsite at our camp. So, while we aren’t limited to using what’s in our holding tanks, we are limited by what our grey and black water tanks can hold. So, once again we are having to break camp and tow the trailer to a dumpsite to dump the grey/black tanks when they get full. We’ve done it once and we’re trying to limit our water use so we don’t have to do it again till this Friday when we head out to our third destination.
Luckily the RV park has a bathhouse with showers (drop in two quarters and get 4 minutes of water) and every couple of days we head over to that. We have taken a few showers in our own bathroom, but again we’re watching our water usage.
Our next couple of stops have full hookups so we won’t have to break camp to dump the tanks. Nice, but more expensive!
The upside is we’re getting lots of experience at breaking camp (stow everything, pull in the slides, retract the awning, raise the stabilizer bars, unplug the electricity and water, hitch the trailer to the truck and drive away) and doing the reverse when we get back to our site.
All in all, it’s a small price to pay for being able to go where we want, when we want, and stay for as long as we want.
Exploring a cavern in Kings Canyon (a guided tour, we’re not that brave) :-}
Back in 1906 a logger named Boyden was exploring the area around Kings Canyon and chanced upon a cavern. He explored it a bit and then went back to where he worked (several miles away) and filed a miners claim to the area around and including the cavern. It was the only way to protect the cavern back in 1906.
He owned the claim for more than 10 years and in that time he took hardy tourists and cave explorers through the cavern for a quarter each. At this time (1906-1916) there were no roads so it was a hike through steep hills and rocky terrain to even get to the cavern! He lived in the cavern during the winters and in a small cabin nearby during the summers.
Once he was exploring the cavern on his own in the early spring, a time when water rushed through the cavern about shin-high, and he lost his balance in the rocky streambed and broke his lantern and got all his matches wet. Alone in the pitch black, he survived by crawling along the streambed for over 3 hours knowing it would lead him to the cavern entrance. When he died many years later he had no family to inherit the claim so it passed to the state and became part of Kings Canyon when the national park was formed.
We took a one-hour guided tour through the cavern. Very interesting, in a few places we had to duck under stalactites and squeeze through narrow areas. Well lighted except when the tour guide turned out the lights to show us what Boyden endured at least once.
Enjoy the pictures Jeff took:
The hair comes off
Almost a year ago I decided that when we’re on the road I didn’t want to deal with a new hairdresser every time I needed a trim. I’ve gone home and cried in the past when a new hairdresser just butchers my hair! I had found a great hairdresser and had been going to him for a few years but on the road…who knows!
So, I started growing out my hair. It’s been about 35 years since I had hair past my shoulders. My logic was that telling a new hairdresser “Straight across the bottom” with long hair would be easier than explaining the shape and style and hoping they got it right.
After several months it did get below my shoulders. Not all one length yet, so to keep strands from flopping into my face and eyes every time I look down I was putting the top part into a ponytail up high on my head and putting the rest into a second ponytail at my neck. The top part did feed into the bottom part. Here’s a picture that sort of shows how it was from the back (click on picture to enlarge it if you’re interested in seeing my hair):
(by the way, this picture is of me walking THROUGH the hollow trunk of a giant Sequoia tree. Over a hundred years ago loggers working in the area bunked in this tree trunk – you can still see carvings they made in the walls)
But, long hair is more difficult to take care of. In the trailer we can’t take long, luxurious showers as we have holding tanks and we have to pack up and tow the trailer to a dump site when the tanks get full. Every time I brushed it or re-did the ponytails I’d find hair all over the place (and I thought only dogs shed!). It took longer to shampoo and rinse. I found I really don’t like having my hair down around my shoulders – flopping into my face when I bent over, getting in my mouth with a mouthfull of food. How do people with long hair manage that!?!? And, I have thick hair so there’s a LOT of it to take care of.
SO, I decided to head to a Supercuts in a nearby city and get it cut off. I had a picture of when I had short hair so I showed that to the stylist and she suggested making it a bit longer in the front so I can tuck it behind my ears and shorter in the back where my hair gets curly. She did a GREAT job and I really like it.
I had Jeff take pictures front, side, back so next time I want it trimmed I can show the stylist exactly how I want it. Hopefully I get good stylists who can keep this style going!
Latest Location: Sequoia National Park
We drove from Julian to Three Rivers, Ca just outside the entrance to the Sequioa National Park on Friday August 17th. Long drive but an uneventful one which is good.
It’s even hotter here than it was in Julian, they’d been having highs of 104-106 and Friday it was a bit cooler (ha!) at 98. So we were really glad our A/C is again working.
On Saturday we went into the Sequioa National Park. I drove to give Jeff a break as he’s done all the driving so far. Very windy road and you start at about 1,000ft and end up over 5,000ft!
There was constructions going on and a couple of miles of that narrow, very windy road was down to one lane and delays of about 20 minutes while folks going the other direction made their way through the construction area, then we went. Luckily the place where we had to stop and wait had a fabulous view of Morro Rock. A different Morro Rock than the one in the beach near Morro Bay of course, but just as magnificent!
We went into the “Giant Forest” and as far as the General Sherman Tree area. The parking area to go see the General Sherman tree is about .5 miles away from the tree itself, so there’s a hike to see it, but downhill all the way. The tree itself, and many others in that area, is truly magnificently huge! Jeff exclaimed several times that he’d seen pictures and knew they would be big, but until you actually stand under them and see how large around and how tall they really are you can’t imagine what it’s really like. The park service made the trail very nice because in addition to a choice to hike back UPhill .5 miles to reach your car there’s a very slight downhill trail to some accessible parking and a shuttle will take you back to your vehicle. That’s what I wanted…no uphill strenuous hike for me!
The temperature change from the lower area where it was mid-90s to the Giant Forest where it was sprinkling and about the mid-60s was interesting. We hadn’t expected that much of a change, but it felt REALLY nice to have a cool breeze and some rain and it made the forest smell really good. It was fortunate as well for Laddy – we took him on the drive with us and he was very comfortable staying in the car while we hiked down to see the General Sherman tree…dogs not allowed on the trails!
We took lots of pictures and they are in some separate posts.
